Controlling the Ship

Flying the ship

The gameplay is one thing that many newcomers will have to get used to. Since your ship bobs and rolls as you fly around, newbies may even get motion sickness. Fight through the nausea - it's worth it. Having a vehicle that can move in any given direction adds a whole new element of skill to deathmatching. The best players are going to be the ones who get out of the 2D plane paradigm and can fly up, roll, and pitch down at optimal attack angles, while minimizing their exposure to enemy fire. This isn't Quake in a spaceship; a joystick with a hat switch may in fact be the best control method to use.

Here's a particularly nastie baddie

The single player game will pit you against various bad guys with some serious AI. One time while I was playing our preview copy, I fled from a room that had a particularly nasty robot in it. Upon re-entering the room I was ambushed from behind by that same robot. It camped me by waiting just above the door and blasting me in the back when I stumbled in! Besides that, players can look forward to some pretty slick robots, not all of which will have weapons. The thief bot will make a reappearance (from D2) and, true to its name, will run up and steal your weapons or missiles. Another bot acts like a snitch. It's a fast weakling but will run back and call in stronger brethren if it spots you.

Outside looking in

Naturally, Outrage didn't ignore multiplayer gamers. Servers will support at least 8 players and maybe up to 16 in one game, and the code has been optimized for modem users to get smooth gameplay. D3 fans will be able to easily connect to one another over PXO.net, which is the free matchmaking service provided by Outrage. You'll also be able to use Gamespy or Kali to find TCP/IP or IPX servers. With so many ways to connect, you'll be sure to easily find other people to lock your missiles on to.